The Wanted 18 (Palestine-Canada-France 2015)

The film is screening at the Leeds International Film Festival on Sunday 15th November at 20.30 in the Town Hall Albert Room. You can check it out at:

Apart from being an important film about the Palestinian Struggle it is also the first in a series of films that are part of a locally-based Palestinian Film Festival organised by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. This film will be followed up after the festival by:

Amreeka, 2009 – which follows the experiences of a young mother and her family who migrates to the USA, chronicling their search for ‘home’ between their heritage and the new world.

Two Blue Lines, 2015. A documentary that chronicles the long travail of the Palestinian people since the beginning of the Zionist occupation, but through the eyes of oppositional Israelis.

Divine Intervention, 2002. A surreal view of the occupation and Palestinian resistance. The film was involved in a furore when the Hollywood Academy succumbed to pressures regarding the film’s nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It is worth seeing as a fine and political film.

Open Bethlehem, 2014 – a film that explores a particular response to occupation, involving the heritage sites in the famous town.

Given that even with the increased production of Palestinian films there are rare opportunities to see them, this is an excellent programme to follow.

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At first, I was under the misapprehension that Under the Tree was a follow-up to Rams (2015), the Icelandic film that became a surprise arthouse hit in the UK in 2016. I was wrong. Under the Tree is a different writing and directing team. Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson wrote and directed the film with Huldar Breiðfjörð as … Continue reading Under the Tree (Undi […]

This compendium/portmanteau film features the work of 13 European directors who were asked to represent aspects of Sarajevo’s turbulent history. The film was completed for the centenary of the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which triggered the First World War. Since then the city, which had been in Austrian-Hungarian control since 1978 after […]

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